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    NBA Live 09

    Game » consists of 6 releases. Released Oct 07, 2008

    NBA Live 09 is the next installment in the popular basketball franchise from Electronic Arts.

    sjschmidt93's NBA Live 09 (PlayStation 3) review

    Avatar image for sjschmidt93

    It's still basketball, and it's fun, but it's not great.

    When NBA Live 09 was announced EA states that it would feature "Dynamic DNA". Now, if you don't know, what this is is basically an auto-update every day for the game, updating the players based on how there playing in the real world. For example, if someone gets traded, injured, or has started draining more threes than usual, then that's going to happen in the game, too. Atleast EA claims it's suppose to happen. This even changes things like if the player in the post wants to turn to his right or left when going towards the basket. That's really the big addition to NBA Live this year that no other basketball game has had, but that still doesn't make it good.

    If your a basketball fan and a casual gamer, you're gonna like this, no doubt, it's fun. But if your hardcore and can point out all the flaws and issues with this game, you may no find it as enjoyable.

    Now, since if you're reading this review, you know how basketball games work, I'm not gonna go through all that. You know, pick your team, jersey, players, and so on, then start up the g

    You can tell what your characters are doing by checking out there Dynamic DNA.
    You can tell what your characters are doing by checking out there Dynamic DNA.
    ame.

    I will, however point out what in the game is good, and what of the game is not so great.

    What's good? Well, the game isn't broken, so that's a positive. Basically, the game runs fine, with no or little framerate drop.The graphics are decent, but nothing mind-blowing at this point. It does look pretty impressive when you get a foul or turnover and the player is all pissed with a mad face, which seems to happen every time something even remotely bad happens to your team. Also, the play system, which requires you to hold down L1 the select your play works pretty well, you can change your defense to a full court man or a 1-3-1 zone, and you can call out for the big man to post up. The screen system is good too. When you press L2 one of your teammates will come up and set a screen for you, it works well.

    What's not good? Well, a lot of things. The defensive mechanic that requires you to just put your analog in the direction of the player to guard him isn't very good at all. You'll sometimes be guarding him, change direction a little and you'll wind up flying past him. Or, i f your not precise in the direction you point it you may not get to guard him at all. The crossover system is new, wh ich, when on offense you use the right analog to make crossovers, behind the back throws, whatever you want to do to try to get by the person on defense. Now, this doesn't work as well as one would hope. The moves are limited, and sometimes, for example, when in the post, and you want to make a drop step down to the basket, instead you'll turn the oth er direction, and will have to take a shot or go in for the dunk. They actually got the passing wrong to. How is that possible? When passing it to someone, say, on a fast break, sometimes when you pass it to them they'll stop, catch the ball, and then go. What the hell? Before the ball even gets to them, they'll just stop,
    Bryant about to slam it down!
    Bryant about to slam it down!
    then catch it, turn back around, and keep going. This makes it very difficult to get fast break, 3 on 2/2 on 1 layups/dunks. Speaking of layups, why can't anyone in this game hit the backboard? I know I'm not crazy, no one has made a bank shot since I've been playing. It's ridiculous. Standing right next to the basket, squared up, and he takes a little jump shot and swishes it, really? This is the NBA but, really? And the alley-oop system is funny. They just randomly do it whenever the hell they feel like it, I guess.

    The modes are what you'd expect from a basketball game. Your average quick play match, online or off, dynasty mode, slam dunk contest, 3 point shootout, you know, the usual.

    The soundtrack is pretty good. It's not amazing though, there's around 85 songs. There isn't custom soundtrack support for the PS3, unfortunately. And, while on the court you'll probably wanna commit homicide after hearing the announcers talk. They do get annoying after playing the game for 20 hours, you hear the same things over and over again. And the lines are choppy too. After the half he might say, "The--Spurs--lead the--Lakers--55--to--78. The team names and the scores are obviously recorded separately from everything else, so that's the reason, it just doesn't feel smooth. You might also here something like, "The leading score for the--Lakers--was--Kobe Bryant with--56--points


    Final Decision
    NBA Live 09 can easily appeal to someone who is just looking to play a game for some fun. It has problems, but for casual sports fan looking a game, it's better than play Wii Sports. But, if you want a better basketball experience on your PS3 or Xbox 360 you might wanna check out NBA 2K9 rather than Live. But, of course, if you can look past all of it's problems and just have fun with it, it's not terrible. It's just not really worth picking up when NBA 2K9 is on the market, the Dynamic DNA doesn't make the good, which I think is what EA was counting on, since they had this awesome thing that updates every day and keep track of statistics it didn't matter how good the rest of the game was.

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